Ibadan lawyer to court: I did not kill my husband

A female lawyer, Yewande Oyediran, who was accused of killing her husband, Lowo, on Monday denied the allegation. She said she loved her husband and did not kill him.
Yewande, an official of the Department of Public Prosecution in the Oyo State of Ministry of Justice, was accused of killing her husband with a knife on February 2, 2016, at Akobo area of Ibadan.
The lady, led-in evidence by her counsel, Mr Leye Adepoju, gave a narration of what happened beginning from February 1, 2016 when one Racheal Jegede, who she described as the mother of Lowo’s son, called her with a private number and accused her of not allowing Lowo to take care of the boy.
“I switched off the phone and went to Lowo because he had told the woman not to call me again. By that time, Lowo had settled in bed”.
According to her, she reported the call to Lowo.
But the report appeared to have made Lowo angry as he had told her to stop bothering about the other woman.
“He just got off from bed and got very angry, asking me what my problem was and started beating me,” Yewande told the court.
“ I cried for help. Our Landlord and his wife, could not gain entrance because we had locked the door and Lowo had pinned me down on the floor.
“ I later stretched my hand to the dressing table and I took a pair of scissors which I used to ‘flash’ him. That was how I escaped from him and opened the door for our Landlord and his wife.
“After opening the door for the Landlord, his wife tried to treat my husband, because she was a retired nurse,’’’ Yewande said.
She said that when she returned to the bedroom that night, their room had been scattered, and Lowo was lying on bed.
According to her testimony, she decided to re-arrange the room.
Yewande said at this moment, Lowo suddenly rose from the bed holding a plank and made for the door. With the plank, he tried to knock a nail to the door.
“When the Landlady heard the knocking sound, she came to our window and asked me to come out. I went to see her and I told her he was just fixing the nail at the door. So, she advised me not to lock the door.’’ Later, both went to bed.
Yewande said that she was asleep when she noticed that someone was beating her. When she opened her eyes, she discovered that it was Lowo holding a knife and beating her with the plank.
Yewande said she managed to escape but Lowo was still chasing her until he caught her beside their Landlord’s car.
“I was struggling, with all my strength but he pinned me down there. All of a sudden, I felt I was able to push him off me. But it was not me, I even thought it was my Landlord’s son that pushed him off.
“When I was running, he was calling me. But when I looked back, Lowo suddenly fell and I went back to him. That was when I discovered blood coming out from his neck,’’ she said.
During cross examination by the prosecuting counsel, Mr Sanya Akinyele, Yewande said that she was not aware her husband had a son until when the mother of the boy called to tell her.
When asked if she was the one who killed her husband, Yewande said: “No, I can not kill my husband, I still love him’’
Yewande, however, agreed that only two of them were in the house when the incident occurred.
Justice Munta Abimbola adjourned the case till July 10 for adoption of the written addresses of both the prosecutor and the defence counsel.
The accused, who had been standing trial on a one-count charge of murder, had remained in prison custody after pleading not guilty to the charge.